Mechanism for control of flow rate of gaseous fuel in gas-fueled cigarette lighter



1962 TAISHO ETANl 3,048,991

MECHANISM FOR CONTROL FLOW RATE OF GASEOUS FUEL IN GAS-FUELED CIGARETTE LIGHTER Filed Sept. 29, 1960 i I Q IN V EN TOR.

Sttes atnt 3,9483% Patented Aug. 14, 1962 free 3,048,991 MEQHANISM FQR CDNTROL F FELGW RATE 0F GASEOUS FUEL 1N GAS-FUELED CIGARETTE LIGHTER Taisho lketani, Nogata-eho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Sept. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 59,405 Claims priority, application Japan May 25, 1960 1 (Jlaim. (Cl. 67-7.l)

The present invention relates to a mechanism for control of the flow rate of gaseous fuel in a gas lighter, or more specifically a gas fueled cigarette lighter.

The most important problem encountered with a gas lighter resides in the difficulty in the adjustment of the vaporizing rate of the liquefied fuel contained therein. It is a common practice with such kind of cigarette lighters that the abovementioned adjustment is carried into effect through the intermediary of fibrous or pervious material. Generally speaking, conventional gasf'ueled cigarette lighters may be divided into two main groups, one of which provides the adjustability of the gaseous fuel supplying rate, while the other of which can not provide such a convenience. The present invention relates to improvements in and relating to the first mentioned type of gas lighter.

In the conventional gas lighters of this type, the vaporizing quantity of the liquefied fuel and the flow or supplying rate of gaseous fuel is controlled by varying the compressive effort exerted directly upon the fibrous or pervious material provided for this purpose. Difiiculties and problems are encountered, however, with this kind of gas lighters, arising from the inferior elasticity of that kind of material, as well as permanent set caused therein upon frequent and repeated uses thereof.

It is one object of the present invention to obviate such difficulties as above described and frequently encountered with conventional gas fueled cigarette lighters.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a gas lighter, in which an efiicient control is carried into effect as desired by reducing at least a small gap space provided by a specific arrangement and combination of a rigid closure obstacle, preferably shaped as a rod, with a resilient member overlying the latter.

The above and other objects of the present invention are more specifically referred to in the description hereinafter contained which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, discloses two preferred embodiments of a gas fueled cigarette lighter constructed to operate in accordance with the present invention. The disclosure, however, should be considered as merely illustrative of the present invention in its broader aspects.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 shows a vertical section through a gaseous fuel delivery valve assembly including a preferred form of a gaseous fuel control mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 represents an enlarged View of part of said valve assembly, especially showing the main parts of the control mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section through a valve assembly somewhat modified from the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of part of the valve assembly, disclosed in FIG. 3, specifically illustrating the main parts of a somewhat modified arrangement of the gaseous fuel control mechanism embodied therein.

Now referring to the accompanying drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2., illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention, a practically hollow skirt member 2. shaped substantially as a double-stepped cylinder is screwed to the upper wall 1 of a fuel container of a gas lighter, a sealing means or packing ring 13 being provided at the upper stepped portion or flange for providing an effective sealing connection between the skirt 2 and the container wall 1, the latter, however, shown only partially for the purpose of clear representation of the drawing. The skirt 2 is provided therein with a lateral separating wall, which is formed integral therewith and thus serves the purpose of dividing the inner space of the cylindrical skirt 2 into two, namely upper and lower chambers, the chambers, however, communicating with each other through a connecting passage [2. Control means, preferably comprising a sheet 7 of absorbing fibrous or porous material, abuts on the bottom surface of the lateral dividing wall. A retaining member 4 is press-fitted into the lower chamber from the bottom thereof to such a degree, that the fibrous sheet 7 is properly kept in position under a slight pressure. The retaining member 4 is formed therein with an internal blind bore 1 extending over a substantial length thereof, a wick 14 consisting of a suitable absorbing material being fixedly inserted into the bore 1 for rigid attachment thereof to the retaining member 4. The latter is reduced in its diameter over a substantial length thereof at its upper part, thus leaving a narrow circumferential space between the adjoining wall surface of the skirt 2 and the retaining member 4 within its lower chamber, the member 4 being formed therein with a lateral passage a to connect the internal bore 1 of the member 4 to the aforesaid circumferential space. It will thus be clear that a gas fuel passage, leading from the wick 14 through the bore the lateral passage 11, the circumferential space and the fibrous material 7 to the connecting passage b, is formed. On the other hand, there is a rigid rod 8, preferably of circular cross'section on the upper surface of the lateral dividing wall and thus within the bottom part of the upper chamber, the rod 3 being placed just across the connecting passage 11 and substantially enclosed by a resilient member 6 which keeps the rod 8 in position. A sheet of pervious or fibrous material 9 is placed on the upper surface of the resilient member 6. A manually adjustable pressure member 3 normally urges the pervious sheet 9 and the resilient member 6 upon the aforementioned lateral wall provided in the skirt 2, the pressure member 3 being screwed into the latter as shown. The pressure member 3 is shaped as a substantially hollow member, having a bottom wall, which is formed therein with a gas passage opening 0 at the center thereof. The passage opening 0 is normally closed by a packing ring 10, which is urged against the bottom wall of the pressure member 3 by a lighter cap, not shown, through the intermediary of a control bar 5, which is inserted from above (FIG. 1), into the bore of the pressure member 3 and is kept normally in pressure contact with the packing ring it When the lighter cap is removed, the control bar 5 is released of the above mentioned pressure contact, whereupon the packing ring 10 is raised from its engaging position under the influence of the gas pressure acting at the outlet or upper end of the passage b, the latter being thereby brought into commu nication through a cylindrical gap, as shown formed between the inside wall surface of the pressure member 3 and the cylindrical surface of the control bar 5 with a burning orifice d formed adjacent the tip of the bar 5, thus, in this case, the gas fuel being supplied from the passage b to the orifice d.

The operation of the above mentioned gas fuel adjusting mechanism, according to the present invention is now described as follows: FIG. 2 illustrates the mechanism in an enlarged section, wherein the full lines of the resilient member 6 represent the position thereof, in which it has been more or less compressed by the adjustable pressure Q 3 member 3, thus substantially enclosing from above the rigid closure-obstacle shaped preferably as the circular rod 8. In this condition, a couple of relatively narrow gaps i are formed at both sides of the rod 8, more specifically the gaps i are defined by the cooperation of both the resilient member 6 and the rigid rod 8 with the upper surface of the skirt 2. These gaps i are of great importance for the present invention, which fact will become clearer as the description proceeds. The overall volume of these gaps i are correspondingly reduced by applying increased pressure upon the resilient member 6 by properly adjusting the pressure member 6, until at last these gaps i will have completely disappeared. It will be clear from the foregoing, that these gaps i are rather difficult to diminish their volume or to reduce to zero on account of the stronger restoring tendency provided by the aforementioned cooperation of the resilient member 6 with the rigid rod 8, which means that the member 6 must be subjected to appreciable deformation exerted by the pressure member 3. In other words, it requires a relatively longer downward stroke of the pressure member 3, that is to say, a relatively larger turning movement thereof, to diminish the volume of the gaps i even to a slight degree, which fact is intentionally utilized for the purpose of the present invention. It will thus be noted that the rigid closure obstacle acts as a kind of sealreleaser or closure-inhibitor for the resilient member 6, which will otherwise establish a seal by applying a slight external pressure. It should be further noted, that the specific configuration, as shown, of the closure obstacle represents only a preferable example, and can be modified in a suitable way, as the occasion may desire. This applies also to the material of the obstacle.

Another outstanding special feature of the present invention resides in the fact that according thereto a restricted fuel passage defined substantially by the resilient member 6 and the closure obstacle can be easily adjusted by the operators will in a simple way and the elasticity provided thus by the resilient member 6 will not alter even after frequently repeated usage of the device, while its elastic range is amazingly wide, so that the desired adjustment in the degree of pressure or compression can be carried into effect in a highly smooth manner. On the contrary thereto, in the conventional gas cigarette lighters, in which fibrous or porous material, such as, for instance, string or cord, is employed as a gas fiow control means to be more or less compressed, not only a large amount of compressive elfort is required to control it for the desired purpose, on account of poor resiliency of such material, but also that kind of material is liable to be subject to permanent deformation upon repeated and frequent use thereof, which, should it take place, will naturally affect adversely upon the exactness as well as the power or ability of the desired adjustment. These drawbacks as encountered with the conventional gas lighters can be, however, substantially obviated according to the invention, as is clear from the foregoing. In the device according to the present invention, it requires a relatively large amount of turning movement of the adjustable member to slightly modify the gas restricting passage, as above expalined, so that the operator can adjust the flame length gradually in an easy manner, when such adjustment is to be carried out.

Incidentally, the fibrous or porous sheet 9 is made of, for instance, a stack of filtering paper sheets, and serves to establish a gas passage between the passage in the adjustable member 3 and the resilient member 6. The sheet 9 may, if desired, consist of a metal wire net.

Referring now again to the drawing, and in particular to FIGS. 3 and 4, a second embodiment of the present invention is disclosed having substantially the same construction as that of the first embodiment, except that in the second embodiment a tubular valve member 19 is provided substantially within the adjustable member at the upper part of the device, the valve member 19 being caused to open or close the cooperating gas flow restricting passage, as the case may be, by turning an attached lever 21 in one or the other direction. The valve member 19 is shaped substantially as a hollow tube, having enlarged portions at its opposite ends and a longitudinal bore k extending substantially over its length and leading to a burner opening d. A lateral passage j is bored through the cylindrical wall of the valve men ber 19 at a relatively lower portion thereof adjacent its lower enlarged end, thus the last mentioned passage 1 connecting the inside space I of an adjustable pressure member 3' similar to the pressure member 3 of the first embodiment of the present invention. The pressure member 3 is provided with a sealing means 18 embedded entirely therein and normally to close a restricted gas passage or valve opening 0' formed through the bottom wall of the adjustable pressure member 3'. For this purpose, a coil spring 15 is tensioned between the lower enlarged end of the tubular valve member 19 and the upper composite wall of the adjustable pressure member 3', thus urging the valve member 19 to its closing position, as shown in FIG. 3. The upper composite wall comprises a sealing ring 16 and a backing ring therefor. A hand wheel 20 is fixedly attached to the upper projection in of the adjustable member 3, as by force-fitting. The projection m in its cross-section and the mounting recess in registration therewith are each formed in a polygon, not shown, so as to avoid any relative rotation therebetween. Upon assembly of the two parts, any unintentional release of the handwheel 20 from the cooperating projection in on the adjustable member 3 is elfectively prevented by the provision of the operating lever 21, which is fixedly secured to the upper portion of tubular valve member 19 as shown and as described hereinbefore. The control operation of the above mentioned device can be carried into effect in the same manner as described above in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. It should be noted, however, in this case as shown in an enlarged sectional view in FIG. 4, that a thin layer 9 of suit able pervious material covers the bottom surface of the resilient member 6 and encloses substantially the closure obstacle or rigid rod 8. The left-hand half of FIG. 4- shows the position of the pervious layer 9' and of the resilient member 6, when the latter is sutficiently strongly compressed to shut-off the restricted flow passage for the gaseous fuel, while the right-hand half of the same figure represents such a position of the resilient member 6, wherein the compressive stresses in the latter have been more or less released, so as to leave narrow gaps i along the rod 8 at its both sides. In the drawing, however, only one of these gap spaces is shown, for the purpose of clear comparison. In this case, the gaps i are defined partially by the left layer 9. Such substantially permanent pre-set of the layer 9' can be provided by compressing the resilient member 6 to an extraordinary degree by means of the adjustable pressure member 3', and due to the poor elasticity of the layer 9' the possibility is provided to carry out the desired adjustment in a still more gradual manner than in the case of the first embodiment of the present invention.

It will be thus appreciated from the foregoing that according to the present invention the flow rate of gaseous fuel can be controlled by the user in such way that at least a gap space formed between the. closure obstacle, preferably shaped in form of a rod, and the cooperating resilient member overlying said rod, is reduced or increased, as the case may be.

Although certain particular embodiments of the invention are herein disclosed for purposes of explanation, various further modification thereof, after study of this specification, will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Preference should accordingly be had to the appended claim in determining the. scope of the present invention.

I claim:

In a gas lighter, means for controlling the flow rate of gaseous fuel, said means comprising a container having a bore, a hollow skirt member removably secured in said bore of said container and having a dividing wall to define an upper chamber and a lower chamber in said skirt member, said dividing wall having a connecting passage therethrough in order to provide communication be tween said chambers, a first fibrous sheet engaging said dividing wall in said lower chamber, a retaining member receiving a wick fitted in said lower chamber to feed fuel from said container through said passage in said dividing wall into said upper chamber, a non-perforated resilient member disposed at the bottom of said upper chamber, a rod disposed at the bottom of said upper chamber across the exit of said connecting passage and substantially embedded in said resilient member, adjustable means for exerting pressure upon said resilient member towards said dividing Wall, said resilient member defining with said rod and the face of said dividing wall narrow gaps, the volume of said gaps being responsive to the pressure exerted on said resilient member, thereby controlling the flow rate of said gaseous fuel through said skirt member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,657,663 Devereux Jan. 31, 1928 2,728,509 Peterson Dec. 27, 1955 2,737,037 Zellweger Mar. 6, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,128,281 France Aug. 20, 1956 

